Our Solar Sipper retailers will enjoy this publication for their book and pamphlet sales. A 3rd edition of Happy Bird Corporation Tips on Watering Wild Birds in Waterers and Birdbaths is available at our EBAY store. It’s great for wild bird lovers and pet fans who want to improve the watering of their furry and feathered friends.

A new chapbook Watering Backyard Pets and Wildlife will be published in the spring of 2015 to draw attention to the need for fresh unpolluted water for wildlife. This short book provides ways to inventory your backyard for water and references to learn more about animal needs.

New Fiction, Poetry and Non-fiction

Contractor Heaven

Lynette Hartwig’s extensively researched guide to the world of hiring a contractor for your home updates.

They Sue Ellen Thompson “The poems in They tell the story of a mother, her aging father, and her transgender child.”

Family Secrets Dr Fran White “Prompted by the powerful theme of South Pacific, Brandy Grey confronts her past of abandonment and lies and determines to close the chapter that has been haunting her entire life, the carefully hidden secret of her heritage.”

A Week in Beijing Meg Eden “This book of twenty-one poems charts the narrator’s relationship with the mysterious Beijing, a woman who personifies the city for which she is named.”

Happy Bird Corporation will show its Chesapeake titles at the famous Gaithersburg Book Festival, Gaithersburg, Maryland .May 16.

The Commercial animal Solar Sipper Model 10011 with its 4” larger animal opening has found a home with backyard poultry and with dog owners. It has the features that count for animals. Passive solar means that expensive solar cells are not used to convert heat to electricity and to use that electricity to run heaters. Instead it directly radiates the heat from a dark surface to the water that surface covers. It’s simple, inexpensive, and efficient in attracting radiant heat in the same way as solar pipes heating water on a roof. It is competitive to electric powered drinkers and operates in sunlight when animals range outside and like to drink. It has no wires for animals like chickens to peck or chew. Since it only works to about 20 deg. F, it doesn’t allow animals to freeze parts of their bodies as can happen with too hot open water being provided in frigid temperatures. On top of that, like all Solar Sippers, it covers the water to keep out bacteria and it has inner insulation from its three part construction.

Check out our recent test videos of these Solar Sipper units 10040, 10008, and the dog or commercial version Solar Sipper 10011 in operation on YouTube. These videos show backyard weather down to 20 degrees F. with some clouds and light wind compromising the sunlight. The Solar Sippers consistently stayed ice free even though an open water dish froze solid.

Remember, every effort you make to use less electricity keeps us from using fossil fuels to make that electricity, and thus, keeps the climate clean. Go solar!

From our friends in the wild bird and pet industry

Plow and Hearth is offering a three decker Outdoor Cat House.

Duncraft promotes a well designed three in one Bird Feeder

Goldcrest in Mexico MO is excited to report that their 2014 warehouse sale grew to 600 retailers from 46 states and 4 Canadian provinces. Grant Toellner has announced expansion by opening a showroom at America’s Mart. For more, contact grant@goldcrestdistributing.com

Update on World water resource news.

“The Earth’s freshwater Reserves are Disappearing” from James Farmiglietti, NASA, in Business Insider “ In many parts of the world, in particular in the dry, mid-latitudes, far more water is used than is available on an annual, renewable basis. Precipitation, snowmelt, and streamflow are no longer enough to supply the multiple, competing demands for society’s water needs. Because the gap between supply and demand is routinely bridged with non-renewable groundwater, even more so during drought, groundwater supplies in some major aquifers will be depleted in a matter of decades. The myth of limitless water and the free-for-all mentality that has pervaded groundwater use must now come to an end.” Ed. The photographs of the Earth and the charts including those of California are terrifying.

WILDLIFE CARTOONS

The National Cartoonists Society has announced that the incomparable Mort Drucker will be the inaugural honoree of the “NCS Medal of Honor” at the 69th Annual NCS Reuben Awards taking place in Washington D.C. on May 23rd, 2015. We all know him from his work in MAD magazine.

FREE EBOOK ATTENTION NATURE RETAILERS: Get your copy of the free Kindle EBook Nature’s Viewpoint, March 11. Every nature store, wild bird store and pet store should carry this book in its print version for YA fans of wildlife and pets. Put it on your book shelf. Nature’s Viewpoint has placed number one in Kindle Short reads, Humor, and Entertainment. Also check out Facebook Animal viewpoint cartoons for free use in your pet or wild bird newsletters